Today was a day where I headed out to hopefully complete some big mileage and also try out some new and refreshed gear a few weeks in advance of Ironman Arizona.  You never want to try the new stuff the day of.  All kinds of bad can potentially happen over 140.6 miles.

First, it has been three weeks since I last rode the Guru.  I took it in to the shop for some much-needed maintenance and a potential warranty issue on the crank.  Over the past year, the crank has multiple times come loose.  It even did it once in the middle of a race.  Sure enough, Shimano covered it and a new crank was installed after waiting for it to arrive.  Fortunately, my road bike was happy to oblige the last two weeks for some heavy climbing to continue to build that solid base in the legs for the long haul.

Second, I have been eyeing a more aero helmet from Rudy for over a year.  My current helmet is definitely not aero due to all the openings.

I received an email from Tri Club San Diego that said everything Rudy was 35% off including the outlet items!  At this point the price was right since I found one in the outlet substantially discounted that was my size and I was fine with the color.

However, I had read online a number of reviews that said the visor had issues.  There were also two different visors you could order.  I wanted to see what the difference between the visors was and also test the issue the reviewers spoke of so I looked up locations of retailers where I could try on the helmet.  To my surprise, the Rudy North American headquarters is in San Clemente and they have a showroom open to the public!  The bonus to that information was that I was going to be driving by there the same afternoon.  It was meant to be.

I stopped in and the guy who came to the front door said he would go get the guy who is head of helmets.  Hmmm, can’t get much better than that.  Sure enough, he came out and helped me through the whole thing.  He went into the warehouse and got me the helmet I was looking to purchase from the outlet and the two visors.  I tried them all out and made my decision on what to buy and he said I could buy them right there.  Additionally,  he said he would throw the visor for free!  What was a $324.00 purchase turned out to be a $116.00 purchase instead!  My $75 Tri Club San Diego continues to pay off every year with deals like this and stuff I win at their events.  In fact, I won my green helmet a year ago at a Tri Club San Diego event so I am way ahead.

Third, I had received a new Tri Club San Diego tri-kit a few weeks ago.  I had tried it out on a run but had not ridden a bike with it yet.  Since I was going to go for 100 miles today, I figured that would be a pretty darn good test.

The day started as it often does at 24 Hour Fitness in the pool staring at that black line for 1:45:00 minutes.  In total, 4000 yards before 7:00am.

After the swim, it was off to Carlsbad to suit up and get on the bike.  Weather was perfect with a high ahead of me of about 74 degrees under perfectly sunny skies.  Gotta love Southern California in the fall!

Today my route was the classic Pacific Coast Highway Carlsbad to Leucadia and back warm up, up to Oceanside, out and back on the San Luis Rey River Trail, out and back through Camp Pendleton and San Onofre State Park, out and back on the San Luis Rey River Trail again, and finally back to Carlsbad.  Overall, the ride was spectacular with only one kind of bizarre occurrence.

The first thing I noticed was that it was a lot quieter.  I realized that the new helmet was the reason.  Because it wasn’t catching any air like my old helmet with all the holes for ventilation, it wasn’t making a bunch of noise.  I never really knew the old helmet was making noise until this moment!  It all makes sense now.  But, would that make me faster is the question?

My new kit seemed to be performing great as well.  It is quite tight and seemed to cut through as slick as the helmet.  There was a little pinching going on where it shouldn’t have been pinching, but I made a few adjustments of how I sat in the saddle and we were good to go.  Over 100 miles, we don’t want no pinching going on for obvious reasons folks.

The only moment where things got weird was when I left San Onofre State Park and began traveling on Camp Pendleton.  I had noticed an Osprey (A naval aircraft that can be both a plane and a helicopter) flying around ahead of me.  Once I passed the park gate he came flying my way and literally landed right behind me as I passed under him!  After I passed under him, I also noticed eight military tanks near the trail I was riding on and also in the surrounding brush.  I know they were just out there practicing, but just the same it was probably the only time I have ever been surrounded by full military hardware in my life.  Not somewhere I ever wanted or ever want to be again.

I did get a photo of the Osprey, but I wasn’t going to stop and take photos of the tanks.

In total, it was a 106 mile day.  Did the helmet help?  It seems it did!  A few weeks ago my total moving time for the exact same ride was 7:06:15.  This time it was 6:49:25 according to the Garmin watch.  So, let’s call it a 17 minute time saver!

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Please join me in my efforts to support the Challenged Athletes Foundation as I take on my own challenge to complete my second Ironman race.

At my own cost, I will attempt to swim 2.4 miles, cycle 112 miles, and run 26.2 miles on November, 24th, 2019 in Tempe, Arizona to bring awareness and funding support to the Challenged Athletes Foundation and the needs of their clients. This challenge race is intended to raise at least $5,000 in funds to make those dreams come true for challenged athletes everywhere. Please click on the donate button and give what you can to help CAF athletes overcome physical disabilities and be able to afford the cost of equipment such as sports wheelchairs, handcycles, mono-skis and sports prosthetics, and resources for training and competition expenses.

The Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) raises money to help people with physical challenges pursue an active lifestyle through physical fitness and athletics. CAF’s mission is clear: give those with the desire to live active, competitive lifestyles every opportunity to compete in the sports they love.

Thank you for any donation you can make to this cause at the following link http://bit.ly/2lIDEI4 or just click on the CAF button below.